sign posts vol. iv

7/29/2019 Sign Posts Vol. IV

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sign-posts-vol-iv 1/110

A former university professor,

Dr. Davison continues his

collections of essays on

subjects that concern us all.

Human life and its fundamental

attributes is that central

commitment that provides a

pedestal from which we make

all of our critical decisions.

He lives with his wife, Patricia,

in Arizona.

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SIGN POSTS

A Collection of Essays

Vol. IV

Don Davison



SIGN POSTS

A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS

Volume IV



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Other Books by Don Davison An Outline of a Philosophy of the Consciousness of TruthThe Concept of Personhood in the Evolutionary Process of

Being The Game of Life: A Player’s Manual for Executives and

OthersSign Posts: A Collection of Essays, Volumes I, II, and III

PoetryThoughts and Feelings Book I Thoughts and Feelings Book II Needles from the Ponderosas at Zirahuen

Seeds from the Ponderosas at Zirahuen Pitch from the Ponderosas at Zirahuen Humus from the Ponderosas at ZirahuenSawdust from the Ponderosas at ZirahuenSun’s rays through the Ponderosas at ZirahuenShadows beneath the Ponderosas at ZirahuenCones from the Ponderosas at Zirahuen Pollen sifting from the Ponderosas at Zirahuen

Reflections from LucerneSearching SwampsQuestionsTime’s Echoes Memories InsistencesSplashes

Ripples Pebbles



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Collections Murmurings Iris and Other Things Pieces of the JourneyThrough the Swamps of Time Always Extolling Reflections from LucerneThe Twelfth Hour Pebbles on the Shore (forthcoming)



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SIGN POSTS

A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS

Volume IV

Don Davison



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ZirahuenPhoenix, AZ [email protected]

©2012 by ZirahuenAll rights reserved. Published 2012

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 978-0-9858130-1-7

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and review.

Cover photo and author photo by Patricia Davison

Special thanks to Louella Holter, and to Tina Rosio, from W.



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Again – To Patricia, for everything.



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All of Don Davison’s books have water on their covers. Water is one of the most essential attributes of the planet Earth;without it, life as we know it would not exist. It deserves our most considered attention.

Davison’s collections of poetry all end with “Finding Pieces.”

Many of you have asked, where did the rules for the Game of Life come from? They come from many places and differenttimes. Good hunting!



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CONTENTS OF PREVIOUS VOLUME

SIGN POSTS I

Preface xiii

A Human Face – A Human Touch 1

A New Point of Departure 7

A Word About Politics 11

Grow Up, America! 13

Immigration – A Brief History 23

Iraq – The Last War 37

Self-Love 43

Thank You, Artists! 49

The Mediation of Reality 53

The Past – Present – and Future 61

The Person 67

Wars of the Moment 79

What Is Right? 85

An Agenda for Us All 91

The United Nations 95



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SIGN POSTS II

Preface xiii

Vignette 1

Sufficient Security 3

It’s Free! 7

The Ethics of Politics: An Oxymoron or Truth? 11

Democratic Oversight 17

Health Care 19

Our Current Moment 33A Question for Our Times 39

We Need Enough Truth to Know the Truth 41

Procedural Questions 45

Understanding Our Current Moment 47

Standpoints and a Methodology for Dealing with

Postmodern Perspectives 53Damn It! I’ve Had Enough! 57

Take Courage, America! 61

How Much Is Too Much? 69

The Truth – Elections – and the Health of a Nation 75

A Humanistic Manifesto 81



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Splash 85

A Beacon on a Hill 87

All Hands on Deck! 89

Learning to Die Well 93

My Current Status Is … 97

A Direction 99



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SIGN POSTS III

Preface xiii

While We Are At It: Health Care 2.0 1

Kudos and Thank Yous 7

Economics 101 9

Time, Place, and People 15

The Gift 19

Obama Got Most of It Wrong 23

The Paparazzi 27A Streaming 31

The Greatest Challenge of Our Time, Part 1 35

Fear, Facts, and Ideologies 45

The Coming Revolt 49

Thinking Matters 55

Globalization 57

We The People 65

Trust 67

Let Me Speak! 75

The Greatest Challenge of Our Time, Part 2 77

History Does Not Run Backwards! 81



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Cultural Blinders 83

Human Life Is a Moving Force 89

Come to the Party! 93

A Visit with the Dancing Muse 99

Bite the Bullet! 101



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CONTENTS OF SIGN POSTS IV

(this volume)

Preface xvii

Sandbox Syndrome 1

A New Transparency 3

A Note to the Maryland State Employees,

to Wisconsin State Employees, and

to All Local, State, and Federal Employees 5

Changing Our Minds 9

It Is Deeply Troubling 13

A Question for Our Times 15

End Game 17

Entertainment Is a Strange Bed Partner 21

How Often Do We Need to Be Reminded? 23

In All of This … 25Justice 27

Nothing Is Free! 29

One Wonders 31

The Arrogance of Tyrants 33

The Drivel Called “News” 39

Where Are We? 43

Who Said That? 47

Media’s Gift 49

Food for Thought 53



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Derivatives 55

Frustration Reiterated 59Looking for That Thing 61

Our Time 63

So Politically Correct 67

Now Wait a Minute! 69

We Are a World of Laws 71

Freedom of the Spirit 75

An Observation 79

A Perfect Storm 81

I Am an I Am! 85



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AUTHOR’S NOTE

I am primarily a poet; these essays are intended to help “fleshout” various themes and topics found in my poetry. Where Ifeel it is appropriate, I might refer you, dear reader, to a particular poem that further elucidates certain thoughts or senti-ments. These and other materials are marked with an asterisk.If not otherwise noted, such inclusions are my own work.



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PREFACE

Sign Posts are collections of essays written to shed some lighton my personal thinking. Over the years, students and others

have asked that I write some small pieces on what I felt aboutthis or that. In the following working pieces called “postings,” Iwill attempt to share some of the fundamental points of depar-ture that have guided my thinking and stimulated my searchingin my various fields of interest. These pieces will be aug-mented with the new and intriguing that I find as I continue todiscover the richness of the human garden and the unfathom-

able depths of the human experience.I believe that “as a species, we must act in love (in that From-mian manner: with an active concern for all life and growth) byoperating and proceeding with knowledge, care, responsibility,and respect while we dedicate ourselves to growth as self andcircumstances change. We must live with the awareness that asanctifying process is always underway” (from A Word About Politics, in Sign Posts I).



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SANDBOX SYNDROME

There is petulance in the Sandbox. Is this where we finally findourselves? What cultural degradations have led us to thismoment? From inane conversations to screaming obnoxiousobscenities, we wander in, out, and through the events of our times. How unbelievably shallow, naïve, and inconsequentialare the comments of many of the pundits? We wouldn’t be

stretching our commentary if we were to call them downrightstupid. We are now reaping the crops of chaos from the lasttwo generations of the lost. Year after year for the last fortyyears we have allowed ourselves to slide into an existentialmorass stirred by the ladle of information and misinformation.Media’s penchant for rushing just to throw stuff against thewall has shamed us all.

With an abased sense of “Yes I can!” we have watched andlistened to less-than-seasoned discussions using less-than-reasoned truths. Decorum, that pleasant shrouding purpose, hasvanished from our stage.

Who will rise to grab the reigns, and with a character dedicatedto purpose, slow the cultural wagon to make the corner of the

fast-approaching bend in our national road, and in so doinglead us toward a horizon of mature and reasoned effort?

We have gained an understanding of the value of human life(for the most part), yet we have allowed children to dominatethe stage. Yes, we all know how important they are, yet theyare only part of the cast of players in the grand human drama.

The vagaries of the human presence are such that it is essentialthat there be a critical mass of life experience before we enter upon the threshold of raising children. Fathoming the “buts”and “if thens” of our reasoned efforts takes a certain measure



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of lived-in space/time. There is no substitute for the maturing process – being over time. While children – especially in our current moment of electronic toys and tools – seem to have a“get-it-quick” (understand which buttons to push, touch or screen to swipe) attribute, they lack the sophistication of theapplication so essential to understanding the cause and effect of our integration of mechanics and electronics as we choose tohave them participate in our daily lives. We are still, as asociety, sufficiently aware of the fact that we don’t let 8, 10, or

12-year-old children drive automobiles, fathoming a realabsolute need to accept personal and communal responsibility.

And yet we seem to be unable to realize there is a difference between whining, pestering, misbehaving, misunderstanding,and what we have come to understand as knowing. And nowwe feel as though we must add really knowing. Only one of the

afore-mentioned activities should be allowed to continue intoadulthood and that is: knowing, really knowing, what we think we know. Isn’t there a paradox here? We currently have anabundance of individuals who look like adults but don’t speak or act like adults.

If we follow the reasoning that the most obvious denizens of the human circumstance are fear, anger, guilt, and false pride

and that they “flow” from fear (the most primitive) to anger (the most visible) to guilt (the most burdensome) to false pride,(the everlasting need to knowingly lie about the known), then itfollows that once we enter the vicious circle of fear, anger,guilt, and false pride, we are playing a losing hand.

You may be interested in other volumes of Sign Posts. These

are collections of essays that address these issues.

http://amzn.to/fgeCeV



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A NEW TRANSPARENCY

As the new transparency peels away ever more layers of thehuman onion, we, along with the technology of the age, willcontinue to cover over ourselves with a vast array of trivia anduncover more of the essentials. Some we will not understandand some we will dismiss.

As we turn in our intellectual and spiritual wanderings we willfumble and grasp after the ridiculous and sublime. And as the pace will seem to slip faster and ever faster, we will take lessand less time to own the burdens, the opportunities, and theresponsibilities of our new-found and ever more importantfreedoms.

The double-edged sword of truth cannot be wielded with thesanctimony of youth – or the ignorance of the uninformed. Itwill take practiced masterful strokes to seize the necessary andto make straight the way. We see how many are called and howfew really choose to assume the mighty mantle of freedom.

There will be many who will choose by default or by design toattempt to escape the obligations of choice as more and more

of us seek to play with our cell phones and tablets instead of reaching out to walk and talk with family and friends. We standon the shore of a new world and we are at risk of setting sailwithout ourselves. Stand and hold fast to the gifts of the cen-turies! Touch one another and say, “Yes to life!” Yes to all thesacred acts of sharing.



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A NOTE TO THE MARYLAND AND WISCONSIN

STATE EMPLOYEES, AND TO ALL LOCAL, STATE,

AND FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

These are the facts at hand: Public employees have been steal-ing from the public for as long as they have been earning morethan the private sector workers doing the same job.

So … let’s say that their COLA (cost of living adjustment) – for a retirement program appreciably larger than their privatecounterparts – won’t be paid for an estimated 19 years.

They are queuing up (along with a lot of other state employeesacross the nation) with other thieves to march, rant, rave, andscream while demonstrating in some public space. What they

should be doing is getting really honest and saying somethinglike this: “I have finally been caught stealing from my neighbors – really all of the taxpayers – and I deserve a prison sen-tence for grand larceny. However, I am being given no prisontime and no felony conviction, and I’m only going on somekind of probation for about 19 years” (the amount of time itwill likely take to recoup sufficient resources to pay them aCOLA).

Ancillary effects of their larceny would be all of the other expenditures that were not made because of their budgetarytheft: highway/infrastructure improvement along with a longlist of other well-deserved improvements like education andhealthcare delivery and prevention programs.

Patrick Buchanan’s 2011 book, Suicide of a Superpower (pp.27–28), cites Dennis Cauchon’s lead story on the front page of USA Today (Nov. 10, 2010):



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row. The compensation gap between federal and private work-ers has doubled in the past decade.

Federal civil servants [emphasis added – hardly civil or servants] earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation….The federal compensation advantage has grown from $30,415in 2000 to $61,998 last year.”1

“Remarkable. U.S. government workers, who enjoy thegreatest job security of any Americans, receive twice as much

in annual pay and benefits as the average American … raisesaverage about 2% per year for workers as a group (for federalemployees).”2

“Surely we will all hang separately or all hang together.”Remember, “History Does Not Run Backward.”3 It is always better to “Stand Still in Silence in order to see the truth of the

now.”

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And then to “Own It Now!”

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Of course, doing the work of building a character with integrity would have already sortedout “True/Not True! and Mine/Not Mine!”6 if anyone had beenexuding any measure of honesty.

The information below is just a small paragraph from the TeaParty Budget. (Nov. 17, 2011, Washington, D.C.)

1. Balances the budget in four years, and keeps it balanced,without tax hikes.

2. Closes a historically large budget gap, equal to almost one-tenth of our economy.

1 Dennis Cauchon, “Federal Pay Tops Private Workers Compensation Gap Doubled

in Decade,” USA Today, Aug. 10, 2010.2 Patrick Buchanan, Suicide of a Superpower, is from St. Martin’s Press, 2011.3 Sign Posts: A Collection of Essays, Vol. III, pp. 81-82.4 From “The Rules” in The Game of Life: A Player’s Manual for Executives and Others, 2011 rev. ed., pp. 173–174.5 Ibid.6 Ibid.



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3. Reduces federal spending by $9.7 trillion over the next 10years, as opposed to the President’s plan to increase spend-ing by $2.3 trillion.

4. Shrinks the federal government from 24 percent of GDP – alevel exceeded only in World War II – to about 16 percent,in line with the postwar norm.

5. Stops the growth of the debt, and begins paying it down,with a goal of eliminating it within this generation. Toachieve these goals, our plan, among other things:

6. Repeals Obama Care in toto.7. Eliminates four Cabinet agencies – Energy, Education,

Commerce, and HUD – and reduces or privatizes manyothers, including EPA, TSA, Fannie Mae, and FreddieMac.

8. Ends farm subsidies, government student loans, and foreignaid to countries that don’t support us – luxuries we can no

longer afford.9. Saves Social Security and greatly improves future benefits by shifting ownership and control from government to indi-viduals, through new SMART Accounts.

10. Gives Medicare seniors the right to opt into the Congres-sional health care plan.

11. Suspends pension contributions and COLAs for Membersof Congress, whenever the budget is in deficit.

12. To the above 11, I would add: A public audit of the FederalReserve.1

1 Some of these references are from other texts by Don Davison:Essays: http://amzn.to/fgeCeV The Game of Life: http://amzn.to/fOrqEi



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CHANGING OUR MINDS

That great Salmonic1 gift of our natal-times seeps to the surfaceof our pores and we sense the sweetness of serenity – or thestinging of an open wound. In either case, our memory storesserve us, for the most part, in good stead. The former providesus with an open disposition, the latter a cowering sour disposition, which many people try to cover over with a jovial,humorous shell. This can produce a lackluster life – one that

we can choose not to have. The benefit of discomfort in life isthat it can provide a motivating force for change, for growth, or a way for an act of courage. Nature’s laws prevail; to avoidmental, physical, and spiritual stagnation, we must be open, wemust move – we must grow.

Too often we become addicted to perspectival points of depar-

ture that are inconsistent with our new-now. We are no longer awounded child, a naïve youth, and the world has changed, it isalways morphing. For most of us our experiential bank has provided us with a sufficient critical mass of life experience,and we can now categorize events and relate our growingunderstanding to a wider worldview. This process, however,can be interrupted when we experience a disruptive happening – a personal tragedy, a divorce, the death of a loved one, loss of

employment, a move into a new circumstance, retirement – there are many possibilities.

When changes such as these occur, we need to be especiallycareful not to retrench ourselves in some archaic, childish,youthful, incomplete, standpoint. Actually the process of maturation is an exercise in heroics.

We must knowingly exercise our capacity to choose what we perceive is currently in our best interest. Notice, I do not say

1 Salmon return to the same creek and the same shoals from where they were bornafter being at sea for some 7 years.



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this is an easy thing to do – hence the need for heroics. If wehave managed to develop a dynamic growth profile, actuallyseeking the new and interesting, and have incorporated thisnew information into an active fulfilling life, we can then travelthe road of life with a disposition of cheerfulness, excitement,expectation, hope, and love. If we have not, catastrophes of every ilk lurk in the shadows and haunt us. We can then devel-op a fear-driven, pessimistic disposition that always translatesinto anxiety and eventually is expressed as anger, even rage.

When as an adult our core beliefs, some of which are caught inan adolescent intransigence, are challenged by having our candidate defeated in an election, or worse yet, having a pieceof legislation become a law that we really don’t want to obey,we have a very difficult time adjusting. “It is wrong! They areliars!” become the loops of our self-speak. And no matter how

long the monologue of our mind continues, life still goes on. Now, it may be true that they are wrong and liars; it may also be true that the world has hidden a truth for some time and weare just now becoming aware of it. Grow or you lose; if youlose, those around you also lose, and the world loses.1

This, for some people, is very unsettling. Some of us have livedfor many years supporting a party, a belief, and when we are

challenged to reassess (and when we choose to reassess) thereis a subtle awareness that something does not quite “fit.” Weare being nudged by a synthesizing mind and a moving spiritthat forever seeks a greater expansion of our logic. When thishappens, the critical mass of our experience may be at oddswith the facts of the day.

We need to be courageous enough to follow the path toward a greater truth. Even though this may mean we have held on to

1 You may wish to check The Game of Life: A Player’s Manual for Executives and Others, which discusses at length the positive and negative consequences of per-spectival decisions. (http://amzn.to/fOrqEi)



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some perception of reality, even defended it rabidly, thisshould have been our first hint that something was not quiteright, that we may have been wrong for some time. This cantranslate into self-flagellation, social embarrassment, depres-sive funk or malaise. At this juncture of our life we need to“suck it up” and move on. No one knows it all. It’s the learningand the growing that matters most. It is what makes us feelcomfortable with ourselves and gains us some measure of respect from others and for self. Everyone admires the honest

growing person. Isn’t that who we all would like to be? It hasto do with the giving of the gift, “the gift of one,” back to theGiver. It makes us eminently human, humble, and aweinspired.

The omnipresent challenge for us, as we maintain a fidelity toour maturation, is to reassess the veracity of our memories. The

yeses, the sentiments, the fathomings of a youthful mind,although potentially able to partially parse an ever-changingreality, need to be exercised in order to be augmented as wegrow in our awareness of a larger picture and a more dynamicworldview.

As we pass through time and space, we accumulate a deeper appreciation of our relationship to our self and with our sur-

rounding circumstances. It is this “growth-in-time,” the inte-grated accumulation and application of new knowledge, thatmay seem to be a flowing, but actually is a series of quantumleaps that in retrospect seem to flow. This is what we callmaturation. It is in those times of discomfort that we canchoose to exercise our courage and make that “leap of faith”that always leads us toward a deeper relationship to self and

others. It is a time of great becoming; an old foreboding is being confronted by a new spirit of adventure. A feeling of dissonance seeks a resolution. This is the process of our becoming who we are now.



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IT IS DEEPLY TROUBLING

It is deeply troubling to witness the conversations of so many,whether they are in media or in politics, presenting such un-informed and adolescent prognostications. The U.S. citizenry – and I use that word citizen advisedly as so few participate byvoting in our Great Republic’s elections, dare I say soap operas

– is, for the most part, poorly informed about the goings-on of the Republic or the global whole. We have too much ignoranceand too many adults acting like ranting adolescents.

We have taken our eyes, minds, and hearts off the ball – andthis has belittled our spirits. For the last three generations wehave allowed a pioneering courageous people to morph into

entitlement-expecting drones and consumers par excellence.We have allowed ourselves to be saddled with legislationdesigned to appease and to dull our perceptions of an innateneed to “pay attention or die”1 – we have turned into a nationof 50/50±. We have an electorate that is divided into takers anddoers, whiners and screamers. Too many choose to wait upongovernmental largesse in a downward-spiraling, anxiety-ridden, misplaced effort to sustain some passive participation

in life’s great challenges. Others co-opt their needs by continu-ing to look for offers of something for nothing. We must allunderstand: Nothing is free!2 Politicians who colonize a pieceof the representative turf by offering pork to their entitlement-addicted constituents are the “elected thieves” of the day, andthey are stealing more than money. They are stealing our personal sense of well-being; they are stealing our very souls.

1 All of these subjects are contained in essays in the Postings volumes.http://amzn.to/fgeCeV 2 Ibid.



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A nation’s security, in every arena, is based upon an honestwell-founded commitment to satisfying real needs in real time.Overspending for anything at any time is undeniably the wrongthing to do. We need to “stand still in silence”1 in order toregain our sense of self – a self that understands that only in anhonest self-ownership, exuding a passionate commitment toself-reliance, self-respect, and self-responsibility, will we re-main a vibrant entity in a nation of freedom-loving citizens of agreat republic. This will demand our utmost and sincere effort.

1 Ibid.



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A QUESTION FOR OUR TIMES

Will the young mixed-puppy of a culture be seduced by the old corrupt behemoths?

The electoral jury is hung at 49/51 – and tipping to the more-than side of enough –

even too much.So tell me,

when the youthful exuberancefor the fashionable

and the branded-moment wears off,will we fall victims

to the corruption of soul

where the waves of avariceroll across the mainland?Will there finally be more than

a few who will say,“Enough of your tasteless shoving

of corruption down the throatsof your own constituents

in your all-out attempt to do it

to everyone!Have you finally

torn off enough faces?”1

This poem will be in Pebbles on the Shore, a forthcoming collection.

1 “Torn off faces” is in FIASCO: The Inside Story of a Wall Street Trader by Frank Partnoy.



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END GAME

I’m sick and tired of hearing and seeing the paltry fare on theso-called mainstream media. “What is the end game?” Whatgreat prognosticators of history have always known the out-come? The more we know and the more we plan, the higher the probability that we can come closer to an intended outcome.Yet predicting a timetable in the human realm is very difficult.

How idiotic are the complaints of those who have insights andabilities but do not do.

As the pendulum swings or the coiled spring moves, we, thesocial animal, manifest the full spectrum of human behavior. Itis always the case, in the extremes of excess, that we havemusic unbounded by the human voice, electronic accompani-

ment that knows no limits, the clattering of syncopated rap, andthe unbridled repetitious screamings, ad nauseam, of forcedwords (lyrics are many times left wanting). We have too muchof this and not enough of that. We have cultural faces that havelost their way.

The mechanical and electrical, with computer-assisted forms,create seamless realities that mirror myth in the bionics as well

as the robotics of the day. And so too, in the films of the mo-ment, we are thrilled, intrigued, and assaulted. A few of us maystill be aware of the intricate simplicities of a cryptogenic-layered stillness where blue-green algae plays out its hidden purpose.

When we parse the cultural mores of primitive peoples, which

in retrospect aren’t so primitive, and the so-called sophisticatesof the planet, who with time haven’t proven to be so sophisti-cated, we find it has been difficult to decipher the intent of thoughtless activity. In the face of this onslaught, many of usstill live seeking truth in the appropriate balance of too little or



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too much. The great philosophers and theologians, those whohave spoken to us over vast sweeps of human efforts, have sentclear messages. The great questions of the ages have always been: What are we really? What should we really do?

In all of this, where come the shoulds and should-nots of our current endeavors? How do we, in our glorious freedom-seeking expressions, take the time to sort out our dos anddon’ts? Have we lost that reflective wisdom, a wisdom distilled

from purposeful repose that bequeaths communal behavior soessential to the well-being of us all? Has unbridled freedomforgotten the young and the old? Where are those cohesive patterns of shared responsibility that give structure to humansocieties?

It seems we have netted the globe with our pixilated newfound

fancies and foibles, painting the breadth and depth of freedomsthat pay scant attention to the subtle differences of age, other faiths, other cultures, and the sensitivities of honestly beinghuman. Countries with the wherewithal saturate global mediaand markets as the oppressed and maligned seek sustenancefrom their persecutors and their poverty. They want, for themost part, to have, to experience the good life or what they perceive to be the good life, without sufficient understanding of

the debt-ridden, anxiety-plagued, relationship-strained back-drop that is of necessity coming to the forefront of life in thefast lane.

And all this happens with a language that has grown coarse,even vulgar, and the shrieking of those deft but not-so-deftelectronic intrusions jingle/jangle or vibrate as they punctuate

and pulsate us out of our present.

“Where have all the children gone?” To texting every one, to a prolonged adolescence shared with an almost mature culturethat in its extended exposure to noxious onslaughts of space



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and time, lives seeking escapes in petty pursuits, miming their children’s capricious antics and lack of responsibility. We needa dedication to purpose that seeks to grasp and hold our visionsand our dreams, a place where necessity’s integrity births patterns of behavior that mirror expressions of a Divine partnership.

Who minds the hearth and store,from where the sighs of evermore?

What forgotten meadow jauntsslip silently from memory’s haunts?When did we begin our slidesfrom aged cultural evening tides,where mind and body sat and wrought,making things by hands, not bought?

Personal integrity and a sense of personal responsibility are theessential ingredients of a mature and purposeful human pres-ence, a presence wrapped into a reverence for the timeliness of the organic and the prudence and patience of a mature humanlife. The ancient art of delayed gratification provides momentsof reflection that can give sufficient repose to reconsider our intentions and our motivations as they relate to honest expres-sions and actions of a healthy responsible self, as well as

creating and maintaining complementary relationships withothers.



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ENTERTAINMENT

IS A STRANGE BED PARTNER

The seductive muse facilitates the creative genius of us all andsends our hearts and minds toward the heights of our aspira-tions and the depths of our anxieties, even fears. As a specieswe have a penchant for the exciting, the unknown, for chance.We have the curiosity of a sharp wit and we enjoy fathoming

that which is within, that which lies ahead, and that which is probable, even possible.

This process all takes place in every home of the human fam-ily, from the individual to any group of any size. The people of the social whole are now connected and connecting. The SocialMedia of our current moment is driving a vast information

gathering and exchange: Who thinks what and who is sharingwhat with whom. This sharing is, indeed, a subject of greatinterest that can carry positive or negative synergisms; re-member, everything lies along the statistical curve of our predilections.

Belonging to one’s self, operating with integrity of purposewith those time-tested truths in which any and all mature

societies place their trust, is paramount for every life-affirming person and culture. To have the essential freedoms to live in aculture that demands a form of entertainment that plays at theedges of danger, risk, exultation, and yes, even reverence, hasset the culture at large up for an incessant diet of highs andlows. Too many of us have become accustomed to an inhuman pace and a thoughtless inhumane brutality.

The continual exposure to an ever-increasing onslaught of datahas eroded, elevated, and bastardized the sensitivities of thegeneral population. The coarsening of language and the accep-tance of this by the media moguls and the educators (I use this



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term advisedly) at our educational institutions does not deliver or demand sufficient commitment from producers, professors,our teachers, our students, or our citizens. A sense of a dedi-cated search for truths that complement our human condition isa must. Without these focused commitments the culture of our nation is at risk. Our teachers must be the very best we can provide and our students must be challenged and kept in schooluntil they can perform at some given level. The capacity toread and do fundamental math is a necessity. A cavalier atti-

tude toward our current cultural moment so laden with naïvetéis not only unacceptable, it is catastrophic.

This country simply cannot survive without an enlightenedcitizenry. We must teach our nation’s history and the world’shistory, along with geography and some mathematics – if thatisn’t asking too much? And along with the foregoing we need

to add the fundamentals of logics and ethics, as well as teach-ing an appropriate participation in the management of this greatrepublic. Every child should have at least a diploma and thenmove on to some form of training that prepares them to participate in the work force of this twenty-first-century nation/world.

When a people choose to “escape from freedom” they haveclosed the gate to their freedom, their future, and the future of

humankind.



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HOW OFTEN DO WE NEED TO BE REMINDED?

Human behavior, when seduced to complacency, seeks havingthings instead of doing life. Those who do not exude integrityof purpose to their circumscribed now, seek comfort and recog-nition in some “branded” moment as if something inanimate possesses a living intent. It is “Pants on the ground, lookinglike a fool” all over again.

A self-coincidental pride – one that takes an ownership role inwhat is eternally and existentially already there – is the onlyhonest response to a life that is already here. When people become personally responsible for their own lives, there willnaturally be a sifting and a winnowing of abilities: Mine ismine and yours is yours. Wishing and whining will not alter the

course of history.

And if there is a case in which a person or persons cannot dofor themselves, then there must be both individual and corpo-rate assistance in a case-by-case, reviewed-over-time manner – always remaining close enough to the source of the need to beable to garner sufficient facts to understand that the reality of the moment leads to a greater understanding of the facts of the

matter.

Note: I did not say governmental assistance – except in thoseextreme natural or man-made catastrophes that merit participa-tion by local, state, and federal entities, and then only in atimely fashion – with a beginning and an end. Waiting for bureaucracies to respond to a life-and-death need only works in

the exception: a courageous, smart-enough, loving friend whoknows what is going on, the police, the firemen, or EMTsrespond well to real emergencies.



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There is that childhood story about crying wolf too often.When did we begin to accept that miming childish behavior would merit someone else’s attention?



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IN ALL OF THIS …

In all of this, we have pursued in our wonderment an omnis-cient and omnipotent God as we have tried to divine the lawsof the universe. In all of our heroic efforts and mad machina-tions, we have also presented to each other the heights and thedepths of our souls.

To what and to whom do we owe the sum substance of our existential presence? What must we do and what can we do todemonstrate a thankfulness of purpose for ourselves and all of our brothers and sisters, who have gone before, are here now,and are yet to come? Surely there can be some extending of ahelping hand. When we see someone stumble and fall we canassist them in righting themselves. Where there is an open

wound, we can place herbs and the miracles of the moment onit and bind it up. When there is thirst we can offer drink. Wehave finally seen the whole. We have at last crossed over thethreshold of our future and entered the house of one, and it isours.

Does this mean that the whole is now a “Kum-ba-yah” mo-ment? Obviously not! Although there will be new opportunities

to have many more of these feel-good sharing moments, thereis that ever-present danger of the maligned and of nature itself.An eternal vigilance will always be our mandate.

Everything is an ending and a beginning. Our challenge is toalways see both, while presenting information in facts and fig-ures, in sound and picture, of our births and deaths, to always

point a way to start again, always again, to a new beginning.

In the course of human events we have done so much, we havelearned so much. In simple gestures we have defined the hero-ics of humanity and in hurried hubris we have turned our backs



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on each other. The shouts of joy have been heard and the criesof pain and sorrow were sometimes left in the silence of mistyvales. We are now in a new age, one in which we can hear more and more people and see more and more people. Our challenge is to be ready to be magnanimous and ready todefend the truth of our freedoms.



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JUSTICE

The idea of justice comes from before the current moment as agift of the accumulated depths of history. Our ownership andthe sharing of this gift is a heroic application in the “here andnow” because justice’s need always comes when most of us arealready otherwise engaged. We must, when this happens,always hang onto ourselves, yet preserve history’s gift. We do

this by entering into a relationship that occurs in time from “aclose-enough-to” and “far-enough-away-from” so that themeting out of justice, its spirit and its letter, forms a bonding of the human potential by merging from a past of memories to afuture of possibilities by maintaining a commitment to an arcof human behavior that is understood to “show us the way”into the now of our lives.

We are in deep need of an existential perspective that allows usto know that in the administration of justice, we are followingan order that complements the human understanding of an or-ganic logic of “if/then” that contributes to a reasoned constructfor a civil society.

Ideals are always exhibited from a behind by those of us who

are not quite there or here and to others who are already some- place else. That there is also a malevolent “they” is obvious.That “they” will always come from the ever-renewing underbelly of humanity is also obvious. The only way for the rest of us to live is to be ever-vigilant and “do” the “right thing.” Towhich must be added: Get ahead of the evil ones by alwayscarefully watching the movement of the species.

We must become “the other they.” There will always be the yinand yang of Good and Evil. We must remember that “they”(the evil ones) are always more than one and they will alwayscontinue to come and come. To target them we must manifest,



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in the present, the eternal ideals in our character and our deeds,ideals that bridge the paths of life’s purpose from one always toanother. It is to the “we” that we owe our “I.” And in this vein,it is always to the young that we must dedicate our most lovingefforts. As evil can be let in, it can also be driven out.

We must stay connected in that “close enough” of the psycho- physical-spiritual template to communicate in the manylanguages of love which are the essential life-affirming actions.

Justice means that our lives must always be a yes.



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NOTHING IS FREE!

To begin with, we have become the knowing species. We arethe “I am!” kind. With these two words we place ourselves incontext with “It all.” We come from the inside out and we livefrom the outside in. Any person who is not self-aware is adanger/burden to self and others. A person who does not

fathom relationship cannot survive. We are all tied together. If we could only remember ligare / litigated (to bind to), wewould do more with less – and have many fewer layers as wellas lawyers. Armed with the fact that the truth belongs to itself (it doesn’t matter whether we know it, like it, or even under-stand it), we are obligated once we become aware of it to ownit to the degree that we are able.

We are individuals, the indivisible ones – the undivided, thevisible and the invisible. “We” are the “It” of it all. And stillwe wander in our self-imposed ignorance. Opportunitiesabound for us to understand what we are and who we are, yetwe war, lie, cheat, and steal from ourselves and all others.REMEMBER: NOTHING IS FREE. It is either ours or notours.1 Anyone who does not have an ethic of the environment

has no self-ethic either. Again, as always, the reciprocal isobvious.

When we choose to neglect the intricacies of our space/time,we violate ourselves and all others; without the “others” wewould not even be here. We are of a pair of members of our own kind. We must then – although there can be times when

we don’t like them – love them. We must also remember: Theycan choose not to love us; however, we cannot choose not to

1 You may wish to see “The Rules” in The Game of Life: A Manual for Executivesand Others. You may also wish to see “It’s Free!” In Sign Posts Vol. II , both by DonDavison. Or simply visit pathtotheself.com



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love them – even if it is to isolate/contain/eliminate them. Wemust remember there is that forever greater good for which wewould lay down our very lives: a brother, a sister, a cause. Andyet here we are portending so much in our naïve egocentric fogthat in our navel gazing we see so little of that which stands before us – that to which we owe our very existence.

And so it is that a “must” becomes our primeval pedestal. Wemust come to a fundamental standpoint from which we judge

our participation in existence itself – we and it are one. Wecome from something as a something. And although life is agift, it is not anything that can be called “free”; it must berecognized and owned personally, responsibly.

How could it be that we have drifted so far from the wisdom of the ages? What myopic boredom has beset us all? If we do not

tend the vines, we can make no wine. We are and have beencursed and blessed with technological know-how that whilecreated by us is not fully understood by us. In a dynamic rela-tionship we must know that there will always be somethingelse. We must know that there will always be both intendedand unintended consequences. The overriding truth is that wedo not know (really well) how to maintain a focused connec-tion to both halves of the individual (indivisible duality) that is

ourselves. In that simple truth: We have lost touch with our “self” and consequently each other.

The only way forward for us is to begin again, to be born againinto ourselves as a conscious self-awareness that assumesresponsibility for itself just as soon as we are able. In the par-lance of the day: In that focused state of self-awareness “we

need to say what we mean, mean what we say” and “be all thatwe can be.”1

1 See Frank Luntz, Words That Work , http://amzn.tc/m4v78g and the U.S. Army’srecruitment slogan.



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ONE WONDERS

Just how smart are we?

Well … there are those times. We have created almost incom- prehensible works of art. We have learned to travel far andwide. We have built tall, and many, many buildings. We haveadvanced our understanding of ourselves. Medicine is and has

for the most part been miraculous. We have visited the moonand have trips planned to other planets; so far so good.

Yet there is that underbelly – the snakes of our kind. They havesubjected and ignored some of us, at times many of us. But aswith all things, they roll upon themselves and sooner or later they crash upon the shores of our enlightenment.

We have found ways to speak to each other and send picturesor videos of our faces to each other. We can now attest to oneanother our universal aspirations. Bigots, abusers, beware!Tribes no longer need to be led. They can lead themselves.Yes, there are still those remnants of tribal groups, cohorts of the maligned and ignorant, yet, for the most part we can nowchoose to be free to love one another in that sacred space of

magnanimity. And yet we also know there will be some retri- bution along with reconciliation. Dictators – what a word thatis. Who really thinks they can now be the sole voice giving proclamations? How silly can some remain?

As we implode in the twenty-first century we can promise thestrongmen (anything but) and the malevolent – and they range

from superimposed military leaders to wrongfully electeddespots – that they will have short tenure.

Case in point: Gaddafi was fox-smart (more about this later on) but Kid Daffy. He will serve as an interesting case in point of



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fact. Yes, he garnered around himself those who in their misplaced hope thought they could forever share in his stolenlargesse. (Military leaders and hired thugs beware.) He couldnot sustain a floating ship on this new sea of freedom. He wasdeposed, and those who have chosen to stand with him will bedisposed and punished. You cannot slay the innocent and meritaccolades. Foxes have eaten enough of the chickens, goats, andsheep of humanity. He tried to buy allegiances; it only workedfor a little while in the greater theater of human events. Sum-

mer is over. They all will reap what they have sown. No onecan now stand back and watch, no one can continue to raise poppies and think it doesn’t matter.

Atlas will shrug his mighty shoulders in the person of eachfreedom-seeking soul. The time has come, we are now meetingone another face-to-face and we cannot ignore the “sameness

of our kind.”

The lists grow quickly. Courts in every land are convicting thethieves and murderers of our age. The Soroses of an age aredancing for the last time as they gaze stupefied at their owngrotesque reflections. The new wind has caught our mightysails. We will follow on to that new shore. From a righted shipand a steady keel with willed hand upon the helm, we will

make straight the way of the mighty ship of state.



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THE ARROGANCE OF TYRANTS

Could the private sector be doing more to meet our socialresponsibilities? Beyond any doubt they could. Our currentcultural circumstance is marred by decades of a reliance on afalse understanding of the responsibility of governmentalinfrastructure to take care of society’s social ills. This failure tounderstand the limited social responsibility of local, state, andfederal governmental infrastructures is also colored by a dis-honest political focus on tax dollars that could be used to co-opt the electorate and the political process.

By using tax dollars to remove social responsibilities from thecommunities at large, politicians have colonized political turf

by offering entitlements to given groups in exchange for their continued support. That this has tainted both political parties is beyond any doubt. It has become the modus operandi of both parties. And the longer a politician has stayed in office themore pork barreling became the way of taking care of financial backing as well as vote collecting.

The entire process has become a corrupt morass of programsdesigned to self perpetuate and to gobble up tax dollars as thesense of quid pro quo became the operational status of everyform of government. Some politicians have become very goodat bringing home the bacon, and those individuals and groupswho are the recipients see only a game of “take as much as youcan from the governmental coffers and let the rest of the coun-try be damned.”

This coarsening of our social understanding and commitmentshas also become a cancer on our cultural well-being. We mouth platitudes while we rob from our neighbors and defraud theinternational community. That we are a prosperous nation is



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true. Growth in prosperity in the particular, and general wealthhid from most this mounting political disease. Too many dec-ades have slipped by while too many citizens have turned their backs on the political scene. Corruption has become a way of doing business.

There is a need to educate the individual and corporate worldwith a deeper understanding of charity. Yes, I know that somealready provide a considerable portion of our economic move-

ment, and yet we need to maintain a higher level of focus sothat idiotic underlings, bureaucrats of every ilk – appointed,elected, or hired – of local, state, and federal governments,won’t spend their time advocating that a people (a culture)create and maintain programs that could be funded by other more efficient methods. We have finally learned that wheretwo or more are gathered in their names there is usually calam-

ity and thievery.

The propensity for avarice, when one sits on the banks of the public river watching money flowing by, is too much for most.Salaries are paid for by “others” – impersonal “others.” Inreality others of their own kind: neighbors and friends, espe-cially at the local levels. This is why absolute transparency and

limited governmental involvement is essential. Too long andtoo much are always harbingers of fated circumstances.

There is a new poetry in the fact that material and technicaladvancements have created more and more transparency in allof the world’s societies. Problems of all kinds can now beuncovered and shared with almost anyone in a timely fashion.

What do major corporations give to charity; 2%, 5%, 10%?Every corporation and individual should give something, perhaps the biblical tithe as an average over any five-year



35

period.1 A five-year period would provide for moments of expansion where another focus is needed and yet the goal is toaverage to a 10% commitment. We always owe our success toothers – something politicians think they understand and yetmost don’t have a clue.

There is an ocean of difference between a statesman or states-woman and a liar and a thief. Collusion becomes lost in self-rhetoric. “Who will know?” is the favorite question of the

really stupid, followed closely by the “I deserve it!” of theignorant elitists. In their inflated sense of self-purpose andintent they choose to lie again and further blacken their soulsand the souls of others. Nothing is done in isolation. Throughthe new transparency of our time, there now are available morefacts and figures of the whole world and these will continue toexpose an ever-increasing number of people to more and more

information about everyone and everything. When we turn thecorner of “yours is mine,” we move to some secular indiffer-ence that removes us from ourselves. We must always be an“I” that exists in the context of a “we.”

There is a great expansion in our self-perception when wecome to know that respect is only possible when we realize thatwhat we recognize in another is a reflection of oneself and in

that there is going on around us a great awakening to a morecomplete world. We see mine / yours / his / hers / its / the allsas a profound beauty of great significance without which weare not human. Beneficence / munificence is the caring move-ment, birthing an awe of understanding, that melts from sky to

1 We would do well to note the recent group of billionaires who have given substan-

tial portions of their wealth to charity. Continuing this trend is to be the “human person,” exercising a wisdom that knows that there is always a sameness that is bestowed upon us all. Some will always be in need, “the poor will always be withus,” and it is to them that we must maintain a faithful commitment to a well-beingthat allows for sufficient opportunity for work and for pleasure. From the depths and breadths of humanity come the geniuses of every age. Allowing for an expression of the fullness of the human spirit is forever our most precious charge.



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earth and back again as an intention of yesness manifesting thesacred of us all. We must maintain a fidelity to our “wholeself” in the relationship of divine providence that cradles usand all that surrounds us.

This is what many of those who have served long terms in politics cannot fathom. They colonize a turf that is not theirs – it is ours. They come to feel entitled to their posts – because wehave chosen to ignore them. Then they see power as privilege

and they choose to use their positions to garner favors and toexploit the government’s largesse, a largesse that they use to buy the votes of the less-thans and the more-thans, those whohave come to believe that theirs is a station of entitlements andthey are reaping only the benefits of their stations. They are,after all, worth more than their “different” brothers and sisters.In their stated efforts to redistribute wealth, they take their

share and feel so full of integrity that they can’t see, as they plunder the federal coffers, that they steal from everyone,themselves included. There is in this mutual destruction amental muddle that says, “If I am a good thief, I deserve alarger share.”

This is the hubris of the so-called elite perceptions of reality.They possess an arrogance that feeds upon itself and manifests

itself in their deprecations of others as they steal from otherswithout any remorse. It is for this reason that they are to bearrested and punished for their crimes. It is for this reason thatthey are to be turned out of public office, never to be eligible tohold another elected position. They have stolen enough of our resources and time. They are the true usurpers of the commongood.

The time has come to throw out almost every incumbent, bethey red or blue. Most of them have “played” the system“because they could” (does that remind you of anyone?) and because we let them. We have abandoned our posts as keepers



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of the flames of democracy and freedom. We have becomeabsorbed in the frivolousness of an age and a pace of consump-tion in which we have turned away from prudence and haveforgotten ourselves and our children. We no longer know whenenough is enough.

We must set new priorities of deeds and time. We must knowthat it is only when we monitor ourselves with the knowledgeof a maturing sense of responsibility that we can care for and

raise our children to accept their own responsibilities. Life is agift that only keeps on giving when it is honored and nurtured.The priority for us all must be the nurturing of an education toa purpose. Curriculums must be honest and complete. Theymust cover the essentials of a base of knowledge that allowsfor an understanding of ourselves and our surrounding cir-cumstances.

The facts of the day must be situated in the knowledge andunderstanding of history, a history that is brimming with acomposite narrative that gives us a broad vision of all the facetsof the diamond of life. This means that there must be a drivingforce, a movement that coincides with the benevolence of theorganic. The organics’ rules are an abiding road map thatknows that all of the now does not equal never, and most of the

time these are the essential governors of our thinking. Life isnot a zero-sum game. It demands our very best and our objec-tive purpose must be that of a committed life-long curriculum.



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THE DRIVEL CALLED “NEWS”

Prognosticators of every ilk pontificate diatribes of ignorance.From inept Generals to stupid Fellows of seemingly prestigiousinstitutions and organizations, along with an entire cadre of idiotic politicians, not to mention blabbering talk-show hosts,to effusively simple-minded pundits, we have them all on theairways and screens of the day and night. The language of

ideological ineptitude echoes through the halls of bounded andunbounded airways saying almost nothing as whirlpools of self-speak resonate only with fanatical fringes. Welcome to“the news of the day.”

And yet we do not really listen or watch well. It could be thatmost of us have never really listened well or paid enough

attention to what we were watching. History is replete withexamples of multitudinous choruses that have screamed,shouted, cried, and whispered, “Help to set us free!” We some-times glanced in their directions and a few times wonderedwhat the fuss was all about, and even who they were.

“Pay the Piper now or pay the Piper later” has always been thecase. We have forever chosen to pay later and then bantered

about, blaming anyone and everyone. We have all been os-triches with our heads buried in the sands of time. Freedom’sclarion has sounded across the landscapes of history imme-morial. Before there were political treatises, accords, andagreements, we spoke with our actions. We warred and wefled. The sounds of clashing spears and crashing chariotsdrowned out the scuffle and shuffle of weary and hurried feet.

We have all been caught in the confines of our own history,always bathing in the lassitude of a before of custom and anafterward of chaos and change; always growth and change. Onand off the human path we have charged ahead with spears,



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bows, and sabers held high as screaming minions raced acrossthe land and through time. Now we hear those same screamsand cries as weapons are aimlessly fired into the sky as afailure to recognize the omnipresence of a necessity to adhere,with a deep commitment, to a focused intent. The fruits of laboring along the human paths do not all ripen in the samefield or at the same time.

In the vagaries of our efforts we have not maintained a fidelity

to the gifts of wisdom and freedom. We have trifled away our time. We have turned our backs upon our fellow travelers. Wehave ignored our brothers and our sisters.

There is always an opportunity for expansion in our self- perception when we come to know that respect is only possiblewhen we realize that what we recognize in another is a reflec-

tion of oneself and in that there is a great awakening to a morecomplete world view. We see mine / yours / his / hers / its / theall’s / as a profound beauty of great significance without whichwe are not truly human. Beneficence / munificence is the car-ing movement, birthing an awe of understanding, that meltsfrom sky to earth and back again as an intention of yeses,manifesting the sacred of us all. We must, in the end, maintaina fidelity to our “whole self” in the relationship of divine provi-

dence that cradles us and all that surrounds us.

The surgical operations have long since started. There is aflood of would-be pundits, who from their stupor of ignoranceask, “What is the exit strategy?” One might conceive of a timewhen sufficient focus would be upon getting this first phase of the operation done right while we turn some of our minds and

hearts to the organic present and deal with each significantdevelopment as it occurs. Those with an ounce of sense knowthere is neither need nor any desire to stay in any foreign land,in a military sense, one minute longer than is necessary. And



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yet we must remember; the key to wisdom is to know when toeven go as well as how long to stay.

For decades the U.S. and the rest of the world has pussyfootedaround the obviousness of reality: cultures are different, per-ceptions of reality are different. This stance has, for the most part, not seen reality in its great cohesive-stretch over time.Reality, in the end, does not care about the ignorance of a few.It follows the dictates of a sufficient critical mass that self-

defines in some predictable fashion. The perceptive among ushave realized that the arc of human history carries with it theTrue North of personal and communal freedoms. The humansoul aspires to express itself, in itself, by itself, and throughitself. We live knowing there will always be a newer, deeper,ever-expanding expression of freedom. Our greatest challengewill forever be to embrace and to incorporate an ever-

widening, all-encompassing “joy of life” – that ever-giving giftof being that chants in celestial notes, “Life itself is our reasonfor being!”

To its everlasting shame, in the midst of our good deeds, theUnited States has stood by for far too long when atrocities were being committed. We, as a nation, should have drawn lines inthe sands of time long ago. Isolation did not work then and it

doesn’t work now in an interdependent world.

The United States has stood by and witnessed massacres, geno-cide, and the usurpation of resources by demagogues, dictators,and bullies all around the world. We have not demonstrated auniversal commitment to the principles of our Bill of Rightsand our Constitution. If, indeed, the rights we extol are natural

rights that all people possess, then we should stand by them inthe protection of those rights. We are now reaping the madnessof our abandonment. The cost in human life is incalculable.The cost in treasure and time is also incalculable. As the fire of democracy sweeps across the face of the globe, we must step



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forward and assist freedom-loving and freedom-seeking peopleanywhere in the world with any and all measures available tous. That the health of the parts depends upon the health of thewhole is painfully obvious. Isolation has never been and is notnow an option. “Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way”has been our battle cry; it must now become our personalcommitment to each and every fellow human being startingwith our neighbors next door and around the world.

It is best, when idiots deny the holocaust and genocides, thatwe remember we are not obligated to spend any time engagedin a dialog of ignorance. We need to move on, locked to our course by a commitment to purpose through a focused atten-tion, by paying homage to the efforts of the freedom-seekingspecies.



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WHERE ARE WE?

Too many of us have lain fallow in the understanding of andthe development of our ideologies. We took what we couldfrom our exposure to parents, teachers, and acquaintances, the basics of our knowledge. With language and sentiments wecrawled, walked, and ran into life with what we have come tothink was “right,” the “truths” of “our” experience.

Little did most of us know just how small those shelteredmoments were – until we were exposed to a larger world. Bythen, most of us were steeped in fundamental points of viewthat we had come to believe were the essentials of “who wereally were.” When we were confronted with information thatconflicted with our homegrown knowledge many of us felt

threatened. We said to ourselves, “That’s different! Eskimoswear funny clothes. The Chinese are very different. I don’twant to go there.”

From these glances at the differences of others and our own predilections for friends, our favorite color, tastes and smells,warm soft fuzzies, we formed our “world views.” As we grewinto our surrounds we came to think we knew of these things

and depending upon our geography, we were exposed to whiteAmericans, native Americans, black Americans, brown Ameri-cans, yellow Americans, and others of every kind: English,Spanish, French, Germans, Moroccans, Sheiks, Tibetans,Lutherans, the list becomes interminable.

So most of us just made the practical decisions to move on with

our lives – for the most part – as they were; school, relation-ships, dreams, family, careers, and that ubiquitous thing calledentertainment, all consumed our lives. Of course we wereexposed to the ever-changing ethnic faces and accents ontelevision. Slowly, blended groups of “different” faces flowed



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before our eyes and ears and we began to “accept” a certainOkayness. After all, they were “there” and we were “here.” Wedidn’t really have to put up with them and they couldn’t get tous.

How much conscious reflection about the changing sociallandscape really went on, to what depths did our thinking go,and what implications did we draw from our new panoramas? Not much, I’m afraid, except when every two years some

election cycle presented an ever-changing slate of candidatesdrawn from the breadth and depth of the melting pot. Thereemerged questions and speculations about race, religion,leftists, and rightists, and those who were “really American,”whatever that meant.

All of this has come from whichever myopic or intransigent

viewpoint we were attempting to cling to. It was the same old,same old, story. Our growth toward a more cosmopolitan worldview was crawling along at a snail’s pace, while the intrepidmovement of humanity was busy flowing into every nook andcranny of our lives. Suddenly, as with all realizations, we cameto know we were here, they were there. Now what? Should we bathe in the shadows of our adolescent ignorance or should wedevelop a more mature point of departure and grow into a new

understanding of our capacity to “change our minds” about people and even our politics?

One of the beauties of the movement of the human species isthat, in the main and for the most part, we have accepted thesameness of our kind. The human mosaic swirls around us andwe participate in a phasing multiethnic melting pot. Browns

marry reds, whites marry blacks, Jews marry Christians,Protestants become Muslims, and Muslims become evangeli-cals, etc, etc, and as well, all of their reciprocals. What anentertaining play! There are always new characters and new plots. We stay glued to the TV or Screen until the next two-



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year cycle and then, again, some of us wander back into our caves to rant and rave about the “differences.” “They really aren’t the same don’t you know?” How pathetic some of themargins of the melting pot can be! Some of us say (out loud),“How archaic! How stupid!” And some of us even shoot for the moon, “How insane is that!” Such a display of language!Always extolling, always betraying our guided and misguidedsentiments, and setting the stage for a convoluted road to actualunderstanding.

It seems, in the anxiety-ridden depths of ourselves, therealways comes a wonder that says, “What is really true? What isreally right?” From behind some remnant of our childhood or adolescence, we peer out at the current moment and we sensethe fleeting pressure of a new awareness, “This is really herenow. This changing world is where I live.” And finally, “How

am I going to make sense of what I have always thought andwhat I see today?”

Depending on the degree of our ability to heroically “standagainst time,” our own history and its limits, we can choose togrow and accept that much of what we see is true and in thesenew truths there are fertile combinations of the old and new,some are the same and some are different. We can marvel at

the new and accept its beauty and reality, or we can rant andrave about “the good old days” which for the most part are justold days. In any case, they now belong to history and as wethreshold on a new history we realize, at some level, that thishistory is really ours now. Our only reasonable choice is tomake the most of it for ourselves, the ones we love, and well,yes, most of the rest of humanity itself. We now also know

enough to realize that there will always be those that we needto keep our eyes on.

This is where the vast majority of the species finds itself, in themiddle of the same old ever-new river of life, always becoming



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aware of changing circum-stances, always being pushed into anew understanding of the human journey. We always liveneeding to grow and pay a greater attention to the whole storyof our kind.

And yet there are those who stand on the edges of this vastmajority and rail against the new river. Some “believing” that itis flowing too fast, some “knowing” it is flowing too slowly.They find it difficult to fathom the facts of an ever-changing

present full of the joys and fears of the ever-present palettte of some omnipresent force that manifests itself in an abundanceof beneficence or an episodic capricious tragedy that presentsopportunities for new growth. Somehow we seem to be im-mune to the understanding that most of us, most of the time,are not being put upon by pestilence and death. Sunsets andmoonrises happen and tranquility exists in the midst of war.

Welcome to the human epic. Rise up and choose the freedomof a new thought birthed in new times. Grab the reigns of self and take your chances along with all the others. Come to knowthat somehow you can learn to flourish in this new river andremember that this new river, like all rivers for all time, flowsinto that grand confluence of all life. We must revel in the giftsof the present, always seeking a complementary existence that

holds as holy the lifeblood of us all.



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WHO SAID THAT?

When individuals are too small,governments are too big.

When individuals are too big,governments are too small.

Although the cosmos and our world are awesome – truly grand,there are only some things that we can influence; few in thecosmos and some here on planet earth. Most of our attentionshould be placed where it can do the most good. Without belaboring the point, we should all start with self. A keen self-awareness in the course of human history is amply demon-strated by most of our fruitful accomplishments.

* * *

Play one! After all there is only one of you, one of me, and wewill be our own greatest works.

Stand still in silence! Becoming an astute audience of theorchestra of one, one’s only true and lovely note, and the

ability to harmonize that note, is our greatest challenge.

True! Not true! – Mine! Not mine! This is that discerning process that gives us tools and opportunities to walk the talk.

Own it now! This is that existential mandate that nature pre-sents as our only way. Life is littered with those who have not

honored this omnipresent dictum: “Pay attention or die!”

Act in love! This is the only word that says it all. It will needsufficient compassion to give us the necessary focus on knowl-edge, care, responsibility, and respect. All must be present.



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Dedicate yourself to growth! Nothing stays the same. To every-thing there is a season. Challenge yourself to maintain complete integrity and to be open to each one.

Follow all of life’s rules!1 There is no other way to own the giftof life and to share that gift with our surrounds. Everything isholy. Participating in the Divine’s Sacred Play must be donewith a humble heart. There is no other way.

1 “The Rules” are from The Game of Life: A Player’s Manual for Executives and Others. They can be found at pathtotheself.com or http://amzn.to/fOrqEi



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MEDIA’S GIFTS

The inundation of the media’s fare has the potential to entertainus beyond our ability to cope and to consequently corrupt our self-perception, our perception of those around us, and as well,their perception of us. It is not that we can delete the abund-ance of the media; it is that we have not learned to live in anage of media’s fecund production. The tragedy seems to be thatmany have not learned to parse the fare and limit their expo-

sure to the onslaught. It does not go without saying: there is anabundance of wonderful stuff out there. The problem is that wehave yet to learn how to deal with it in human terms. Adults (Iuse that word wistfully.) have allowed children to surf un-attended in a raging sea.

New technologies have become the interwoven fabric of our

various cultures. We have all had to adapt, have adopted for themost part, the new and transformative interface in some meld-ing of our known world with the ever new faces of the media.In the course of events we have had to be taught, or taughtourselves, just how the new technology enhances our lives or impoverishes our lives. Many of us have just transitioned intosome acceptance of the new technologies and in passing madesome cursory judgment about their contributions and effective-

ness. In the process, most of us have learned that our lives have become freer, even easier. Yet there have also been thosecritics who advised us to attempt some understanding of thevarious implications of the new technologies. Meanwhile, wewere too busy focused only on the good or what we thoughtwas good. Couch potatoes served as a metaphor of fact, and yetwe disregarded the facts. Now, with obesity rampant and com-

munication between members of our own families minimal,titles suggest: The Lonesome Crowd, Alone Together, HomeAlone, The End of History, The Last Man, Without Marx or Jesus. The list goes on.



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For us to maintain a practice of adopting technologies andindiscriminately withdrawing our time from others and livingas though we can develop relationships with a thing, is anabhorrent fact. Interpersonal dynamics have been an essentialaspect of our self-perception and our ability to manifest acommitment to another that resulted in the births of childrenfor whom we should have the highest regard, and for whom weought to have created circumstances that protected them whenthey were young and environs that enhanced their abilities to

tease from their surrounds more of what they might need inorder to enjoy creative and productive lives. We thought, reallydeluded ourselves, that we were parenting well.

It is not so difficult to imagine otherwise. For many this was anaccumulation of tools, without which labor would have becomeominous and tedious. For others this was an opportunity to

accumulate material wealth as well as gadgets, a plethora of things, collections of every imaginable thing. The utopianaudio and visual fare fed less-than-seasoned souls.

Arguments were made that as we lived longer and lookedforward to those leisure years, hobbies added an aesthetic toour lives that became an indispensible aspect of presentingopportunities to deepen our appreciation of the depths of our

loose-fitting personhoods. There was some truth in this assess-ment. There were also assessments that pointed toward a grow-ing awareness of too much – and too little.

Children were abandoned to televisions and PDAs (PersonalDigital Assistants) of all sorts. Manners were the first to go aswe paid more attention to objects/things and less to people.

Caring, responsibility, and respect were soon to follow our lostmanners. Language became crass and abbreviated. We becameless cheerful and more anxious, even angry. And forgetting thatall anger has a target, we took our anxieties and frustrations outon those around us. We became less than helpful, less neigh-



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borly, and less productive in our civil affairs. Inhibited andoverexposed, we were lost in a bivalent dance.

We carped on the school’s lack of ability to teach the essen-tials, when the shouldering of responsibility was less thanobvious. Few stood ready to teach the young how to cope withthe onslaught of the media. Many, (most) of us even askedthem to help us understand how the “damn thing” worked. For the most part, their eye rolling wasn’t even noticed. They

began their trek, as all young souls do, into a “brave newworld” without the guiding loving hand of parents. How manyways have we learned to sin against our own?

Now, in our half-hearted attempts to restore some “commonsense” in the runaway pace of the day, we stand dumbfoundedand exhausted. We are besought with questions: Where are we?

Where have we been going? How have we gotten here? Andfinally; what have we done to ourselves and our children? Wehave neglected both. So, being those efficient anthropoids, weschedule self-maintenance and self-sculpting sessions at theclub. The children have long since disappeared into the worldsof self-exposure and drugs. Okay, now what to do? Corral themall and feed them whole-wheat pabulum? The late-night jesterswill offer a list of ad nauseam possibilities in their hyper angst

and less-than-respectful soliloquies and monologues as if noneof it really matters – and yet the children are up late and takingit all in on their own medium-sized, the large ones are in thefamily rooms, flat-screen HD3D worlds.

What simple and elegant proposal could we entertain thatwould give us some opportunity to redeem ourselves and help

the children save themselves? And don’t give me that, “Luvya! Have a nice day!” stuff. Banality is still just that, banality.And for those of you not so inclined, that word doesn’t meanlittle banana.



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If I was to suggest Bible reading, it wouldn’t get it done. Thereis little sense of awe and trembling to fix it in some “want toknow and be responsible” context. “Shock and awe” have beentried by some of the so-called grownups and now we want tocut and run. Was it too little, too soon, too late? The debateanguishes on.

Could we turn to some sense of a historical appreciation of thespecies’ long and difficult journey? Too few have any under-

standing of the past. They spend their afternoons at the matineeand surfing. Time spent in sharing the unfolding of a person’sloving appreciation of the many gifts of our presence is whatwe need to learn to do. This will require a new template, a new(really very, very old) set of rules. I suggest, for those of youwho can still read – and understand what you are reading, thatyou give The Game of Life: A Player’s Manual for Executives

and Others, a try. In this new world of wannabes shouldn’teveryone be the executive of their own self/world? Well,maybe not in a world where we allow the less informed amongus to steal our freedoms and to cage us in some aseptic, insipid, postmodern, pathetic social game. Good luck with that!

Be courageous! Think: “I am!” more often in a humble and prayerful thanksgiving. Know the challenge is always to “do

the right stuff,” and in that we can bask in an appreciation of a purposeful life well lived.



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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

As the new transparency of an age peels away ever more layersof the human onion, we, along with the assistance of the tech-nology of our time, will continue to uncover within and outsideourselves a vast array of trivia and more of the essentials. Somewe will not understand, some we will dismiss, some we will

heroically attempt to appropriate as necessities in our newworld. This will not be done without difficulties and a sus-tained commitment to own what we perceive is in our very bestinterests.

As we turn in our intellectual and spiritual wanderings, we willfumble and grasp after the ridiculous and sublime. And as the

pace will seem to slip faster and ever faster in the onslaught of the forever new, we will take less and less time to sort out andown the burdens, the opportunities, and the responsibilities of our newfound and ever more important freedoms of choice.

In all of this, it is prudent to recall the double-edged sword of truth. It cannot be wielded with the sanctimony of youth – or the ignorance of the uninformed. It will take practiced master-

ful strokes of insight to seize the necessary and to makestraight the way. We will see how many are called and howfew really choose to assume the mighty mantle of freedom.

There will be many who will choose by default or by design toattempt to escape the obligations of choice as more and moreof us seek to play with our Smart phones, iPads, and Kindle

Fires. This we all must do as we seek to live in our new nowand to know, in that concomitance of life, what life is all about.And yet we must, as well, reach out to walk the walk and talk the talk with family and friends.



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We stand on the shore of a new world and we are increasinglyat risk of setting sail without ourselves. Stand and hold fast tothe gifts of the centuries! We must touch one another and sayfrom the very depths of our new-found centripetal person-hoods, “Yes to life! Yes to all the sacred acts of sharing!”



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DERIVATIVES

Derived from – what exactly? Are they a mixture of a syner-gism of hyped time and under and overvalued money? “If you print it you must use it – well, circulate it ASAP.” So they say.But then they talk in such obfuscating apologetics, always witha tinge of arrogance, the former dulling our senses and thelatter stroking our dissatisfaction. We must hearken back tosome semblance of common sense. Why do we play their game

anyway? Is it that we, toying with our own mantel of hubris,enjoy dancing with that Satan of Avarice?

When did we cross over the line of “something for nothing?”1 When did bended back and sweat-laden brows, both revealingand foretelling of the actions and dreams of our kind, becomeless than important?

How is it that we find ourselves printing paper – some withancient symbols – some with heroes – some with nationalisticslogans – and think we can exchange these pieces of paper onefor the other and end up with something “more than”?

Can we honestly say, as we stir the gruel of cyclonic avarice,that we have the well-being of our brothers and sisters in mind,

heart, and soulfulness? Or are we too “progressive” in our secular age to think that and that one really does matter at all?

And the inventors and brokers of derivatives, lost in swill, lust,and arrogance, speak among themselves, “We have touched theall of the earth and bumped into stalwart folks in every nook and cranny – judging them all, of course, for their lack of

similarity to us, we judge them as less than and unworthy.Well, let’s get right down to it – expendable. After all, wecould mine the metals, minerals, and oil more efficiently – wedon’t really need them.”

1 See Nothing Is Free in this current volume of Sign Posts.



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“Their primitive time-consuming machinations aren’t what wewould call “productive or efficient.” They are so incredibly beneath us. And nobody watches sunsets and moonrises – well,very few – anymore. Perhaps a few romantics still wage battlewith that nonsense. We, the best of us sophisticates, well; we just don’t have time for any kind of reflection on the mundane.We have derivatives to milk, to squeeze what isn’t there rightout of nothing. Thin air, some would say – and truth be told

they are more right than wrong. Being cynical is one of our most attractive attributes.”

“Sometimes we even laugh at their incompetence in not beingable to see that there is nothing there but hot air. Hot air that,for us, comes in the guise of fees, high salaries, and bonuses – don’t you know?”

“Well, enough of this wasteful reminiscing, we have miles togo. Our work now encompasses the whole globe. We are somuch alike – always chasing rainbows – well now – I’m wax-ing poetic. I will have to stop, it might just resurrect someinklings of sentiment and we can’t have any of that. Whatderivatives could possible come from it? Oh yes! The ancients – those truly ancient – would have said it could and should give

birth to compassion. That is not in our post-postmodernrepertoire of attributes.”

“How loathsome would that be in our demeaning deprecationand thoughtless word-filled games that belie our lost and lust-ful souls?”

“We are ‘Oh, so now.’”

* * *



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Beware from your pedestals of solid hubris you deem them allyour fodder! Play on you maniacs of time and money beforethe clock stops ticking and the money shrivels to ashes. Didn’tsomeone say, “Dust to dust – ashes to ashes, perdition to hell?”Oh well …



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FRUSTRATION – REITERATED

It has been said, and yet bears repeating: “We must, if werationally can choose to survive, keep an omnipresent “pres-sure on the real.” This is our mandate: “PAY ATTENTION OR DIE.” Nature in her magnificence is honest to the core. Lestwe forget she means it, as we develop the umbrella, or enve-

lope, of our omnipresent mediated environment, we must keepa watchful eye on everything all of the time. Neighbors, closeand afar, weather, politicians, governments, the list goes on.What part of this do we not understand? And the older we get,for most of us, the more we realize just how important this PAY ATTENTION OR DIE mandate really is. This is an excellentopportunity for our “retired” brothers and sisters, in their heroic

attempts to do just that, to exercise their newfound skills andstart sweeping, mopping, cleansing, polishing, and honing thewonderments and applications of the internet. While many aredoing just this, we need legions of the willing to help stem thetide of the malicious, seditious, and insidious. As the oldChinese proverb says, “We must move our chairs closer to thefire to see what we are saying.” Or, has been so often said,“Battle on!”



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LOOKING FOR THAT THING

I see this more as a matter of ignorance and false shame. Thereis an abundance of ignorance out there. People simply do notknow – many of them because they have never had that innatecuriosity to seek those great universal truths, truths that speak to the soul of the species, truths that have driven us for millen-nia toward those higher aspirations. They came of an agewithout sufficient commitment to that personally focused

responsibility to seek excellence in the self. That age-old pathof recognizing one’s own talents and mastering them wellenough to be able to say, “Well done!” to one’s self. Not someminute of fleeting notoriety of difference, that is not of excel-lence. Rewards became a manifestation of a shared socialconscience that chose to treat everyone as equals – when noone is “equal.”

We are only exceptional in our own ways, and our “path toexcellence” lies along our own integrity of purpose. Most people never got that message. Instead, in a perennial ado-lescent, peer-driven focus on acceptance, they wallow in ashallow sense of self, wanting desperately to be liked byeveryone. They choose screaming and shouting in some bland branded myopia. They lack that “fire in the belly” of the great

race, the mountain top, a life goal.

Our social sense of treating everyone the same has robbedmany of any sense of higher purpose. What we see and hear areadolescent whimpers and wailings. There is only a fading senseof greatness. We need a cultural shock that will open eyes andears to profound realities that do not bode well for human life.

And in a newfound awareness, we need to reach to the depthsof ambivalent souls, and grabbing the helm of self, rise to agreater sense of personal and familial integrity, an integrity thatgives birth to a commitment that is life-long, a commitmentthat demands our everything. Let freedom ring!



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OUR TIME

The context of our discourse is wanting – not because thereisn’t context – there is always context, but because we havefallen victims to the mediated pace of the day. The essential pause to place the slices of the news in its graded context, its

connectedness, is sorely missing. And without it, we wander ina shadowed world of half-truths and fodder for those who haveless than the interest of the whole and a composite of ones intheir minds or in their hearts.

There are those who choose a subversive, less-than-honest, piece of propaganda designed to keep the uninformed ignorant

and to victimize the innocent by stealing those essentialfreedoms, freedoms that form the constructs of our nationalfounding documents and our subsequent history of commit-ment to those ideals.

To continue in our current, less than thoughtful, parsing of thehistorical context of our limited exposure to the facts of thematter and the spun and doctored tidbits designed to advance

an ideology that is an anathema to human freedom, is less thanwise. Alongside these choreographed diatribes of falsehoodand seditious onslaughts, we also had the advancements of technology that moved information “at the speed of live.” Moreand more “news” was cherry picked and edited to reinforce anideology that had heaped untold sound bites upon us (no punintended) to shore up a less than complete picture of human

suffering and missteps that turned innate intentions to be freetoward a decadent tendency to be “taken care of” by anyone,and most assuredly a government of those who choose to in-habit a present as well as a future that allows many to practicesloth and avarice. We have bequeathed to future generations



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the options of being lazy and greedy as potential options thatostensibly would serve us in our best interest. They never haveand never will.

The double seduction of less-than-honest propaganda and auser-friendly media technology, both of which helped andhindered us enough for us to take our eye off the facts of thematter and the consequences of a lack of reasoned commitmentto our innate desires and our personal responsibilities will, if

left un-attended, be fatal.

We need to separate those salacious selected slices of somefailed ideological construct, those that play to our worst vices,vices that demean our human nature, from those historicallyaccurate descriptions of the grand human epic. This willrequire a maturing mantle of truth seeking; one that presents

those heroic complementary efforts that will bring out the very best of our conscious commitments to own responsibly our personal participation in the great mosaic of our personal andsocietal actions.

As a nation and as individuals we are on a precipice, if we loseour balance and slip over the edge many will perish and thereconstruction of ourselves and our governing principles will

be very difficult. To have evolved an orderly nation, one builton founding principles that recognized and elucidated freedomsof being that governed by laws designed to protect thosefreedoms, were essential – we indeed, with a masterful strokeof genius, created a democratic republic.

As the beneficiaries of this great accomplishment, we have

produced innumerable benefits and done much to elevate thelives of our fellow citizens and those of the entire world. Our lives have been unburdened of the mundane and our hopeshave been raised to great heights. In the process of theseaccomplishments we have lessened our commitments to the



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responsibilities of the concomitants of our productive and busyefforts and the participation in our own governance.

In this new age, where we possess an insufficient understand-ing of history and are engaged in an onslaught of entertain-ment, we have failed to learn to focus our attention on an ever more rapidly imploding global whole and as well on an ever more demanding attention to our own well-being. In all of thisthere is also the absolute need to put our shoulders to the wheel

of great new ideas – ideas that will inspire us to labor inces-santly at the task of preserving our freedoms.

In addition to these new ideas, we must learn new skills inorder to restrict ourselves from the onslaught of noxiousnothingness and to focus our attention on the essentials. Whenconfronted with too much of anything we must limit our

exposure and mine the depths of that which we already know.We must seize the tiller of self and engage ourselves in our work for freedom’s sake.



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SO POLITICALLY CORRECT

Trying to be so politically correct, do we ignore our commonsense? The facts at hand: There is nothing correct about either ignorance or the danger that comes from not knowing. Diggingin the wastebasket of nonsense is a waste of time and energy.Stupidity is just that – stupid. While there is an intimate rela-tionship of reciprocity in the great scheme of things, it does notfollow that all things have an equal value or even an important

value. There are many things that are true and simply do notmatter to any really important degree to everyone.

A culture that allows for the creation of infrastructural insidi-ousness in the general perception of reality has impaired itsunderstanding as well as its actions – actions that need to betaken in a timely fashion. We not only waste our economic

wherewithal, but we also waste our time and efforts. We mustremember that all things change, becoming always more or less.

Think balanced budget, interest rates, immigration, foreignaffairs, war, the economy, etc. Politically correct nonsense of the last 50 years has reshaped our perspective of the real . Wecannot get to: “Say what you mean and mean what you say.”1

We have chosen to forfeit an essential aspect of our freedom.

We now must (it seems) seek reference to be sure that our statements won’t alienate any part of any constituency. Thefact is, some parts are so marginal they simply do not matter. Nature’s rules are simply put: Those who can, survive; thosewho cannot, don’t. And don’t hearken to any statement like:

“Well, that is insensitive!” General rules almost always haveexceptions. It is obvious that the human species was born withan encompassing compassion along with a mind that knowsuniversals matter, and that all information is accumulative.

1 See: Frank Luntz’s many books on language use. Check amazon.com



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Yet it is true that we have succumbed to mitigated points of view that for the most part belie the facts of history and thefacts currently on the ground. Of course, how could we judgethe facts at all if our currently contaminated politically correct mind-set attempts to mitigate everything? Efforts to live in aworld where we attempt to accomplish anything without of-fending anyone is an oxymoronic standpoint. It simply will notwork.

We do not need to engage in endless efforts to repeat adnauseam, “What I really meant was …” Close enough hasalways been just that, close enough.

Is anyone getting the picture? We are lost in a morass of think-ing that clouds our vision and impairs our decision making.

Consequently, many of our actions are uninformed and lessthan meaningful or timely. So get informed and get timely. Weneed to muster sufficient courage to own our perceptions of truth and engage in some complementary effort to add to thewell-being of our kind – come hell or high water. State theobvious and move on!



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NOW WAIT A MINUTE!

If red is dead then blue is through. We’ve birthed them both insearch for truth so there must be some in each.

We emerge, partially, from nature’s arms and then it is that wemust learn to walk alone/together.

How can this be when mine is mine and yours is yours – except

that time – when yours is mine and mine is yours?

A Great Age is upon us, it has always been, and it is now thatwe must choose to be present in ourselves and to one another inways that demonstrate the gathered wisdom of the ages. Itcannot be that we must start from scratch. Too many havegiven so much, taken so much, done so much. Those treasures

of our accumulated development and understanding must now become the stepping stones that lead to a more refined appre-ciation of ourselves, each other one, and everything else.

Capricious, even mad gesticulations are manifestations of childhood and adolescence. As that ever-deepening self- perception entwines in our circumstance, we must be boldenough to mature into our own age. And while it is not without

its consternations, we must be about the equanimical applica-tion of our wherewithal, and there is much.

We have gained incredible forms of mobility; variations of every size and hue of so many have led to so much. And wehave consumed it all from A to Z. We have had those saintsand sages who have admonished us, have pointed toward the

others. Many of us looked away and saw less deserving other-thans, some we chose to slaughter and others we passed by. Inour senseless pillaging and maiming, bequeathing many agon-izing deaths, and destruction with much worth saving, we plunged forward into a wanton desecration, we became the



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desolate ones. We chose to strut in hubristic machinations,deceiving ourselves with our own ignorance –assuming that wewere the chosen ones; after all, we won the war, the battle, andthe race.

Truth is not just any movement; it is a self-coincidence withthe sacred and that can only be a complement to the Divine.Knowing this is a humbling yesness that settles around us as aholy mantel. This is not something we wear with some sanc-

tioned pride; it is a gift long sought after, patiently awaited andreceived only when we present ourselves as an innocent or practiced soul as part of the Divine Bouquet.

So when we choose red / blue / Islam / Christianity and all theother ramifications of religious history or our imaginations,what forms the construct of our choices? It must be that com-

mitted gloved hand, cloaked with the holiness of self, that inincorporating – think here what if – a complementing presenceto the Divine’s Oneness, it becomes more than and less thanand nothing else matters. We are then in the arms of theInfinite Eternal.

So why, in the face of this, do we wallow in ways that lie, bend, turn, twist, destroy those sacred others in our presence?

To each has been assigned the same task to be red / blue /Muslim / Christian, whatever.



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Race is not and should not be used in any effort to create aworking immigration methodology. We are all members of thehuman family. Simple procedures should be obvious:

1. Some form of a biometric identity card is not a violation of human rights. It is an example of prudence.

2. No individual or entity should employ an illegal alien. Finesand/or jail sentences, or both, should be severe. We are charged

with upholding the tenets of the nation by adhering to the lawsof the nation.

3. Anyone who is seeking employment or is stopped in thecourse of law enforcement activity must demonstrate their citizenship. It’s as simple as that.

Anyone who is not in the country legally will be fingerprinted,DNAed, and processed according to the laws of the nation. NOTE: Most cases will be straightforward. There will be somethat are deserving of further investigation, i.e., if there is some-one who can demonstrate sufficient need for political asylum,they may be eligible for special treatment, which may be thatthey will be sent to some more appropriate country – they willnot automatically become a citizen or a ward of the United

States. This is not the only country that can and does acceptindividuals from problematic circumstances. Those who cannot be placed elsewhere and can demonstrate threatening circum-stances should be allowed some temporary status – not auto-matic citizenship. There are many countries in the world withrelatively safe hospitable environments.

Slowly there should be a tightening of immigration control viathe enforcement of law that would create some semblance of order. The important thing is to start with what we already haveand then to create an infrastructure and focus an appropriate



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amount of energy and assets on the management of the immi-gration problem. We have ignored it for far too long.

We must close the borders to anyone not properly documentedand any criminal element should be sent into the penal systemof their country of origin. Now while I agree that there aresome discrepancies of legal focus, a felon is a felon, a murderer is a murderer. These are social pariahs that belong to somecultural and human circumstance, and it is not unreasonable to

assume that they belong in their own cultural circumstance.This also assumes that there would be some recognition of acultural responsibility “to care for their own,” and to assumesome measure of universal humane responsibility.

A philosophical adage that applies to law as well as immigra-tion as a human circumstance is: Form dictates content. Once

the form – the essential laws – are set in place and enforced,the content will follow. That this is a global problem is obvi-ous. Human nature is not a racial or political phenomenon; it isa generic attribute of the species and as such is the responsibil-ity of all peoples.

That any individual has an inherent right to seek meaningfulemployment is also manifest. The organic history of immigra-

tion amply demonstrates that we will seek a better place inwhich to realize our dreams. It is also true that social inter-course must be governed by laws that give a measure of security to the individuals of every society and that that meas-ure of security must be enhanced through acceptable law.

A just and well-monitored worker permit that provides oppor-

tunities for those so engaged should be established if and onlyif there is an internal need. Instead of much of the nonsensical palaver of the WTO (World Trade Organization), this should be a global priority. The facts at hand dictate that there is anelement of the human family that does not have the best



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interest of human life in mind. Given the obviousness of thisfact and the additional fact that technology provides the meansto create very destructive opportunities for individuals andsociety, we should be about engaging in ways and methodol-ogies that provide for an expression of human freedoms thatcomplement human life.



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FREEDOM OF THE SPIRIT

Spirit comes before the letter of the law, through the letter of the law, and beyond the letter of the law.

How do we identify ourselves as a self? History and capacity play their role. These are themes for another discussion. So …let us focus on our political self-definitions, our participation in

a body politic at the local and global level, and all those en-claves along the way, precipitates in our historical understand-ing of how well we can get along together, achieve some meas-ure of our personal dreams, and respect the personal dreams of our fellow human beings. It all comes down to our sense of well-being, our whole sameness as vessels of freedom.

If this is true, there must be a maturing sense of self that growswith us as we become more experienced, as we age. Oneshould suppose that a more balanced, a more open and closedself, would emerge from our personal and interpersonal history,the history of our individuality, our indivisible-duality. Thereare those who have critiqued the yeses and nos of our long journey into self and our individual upbringing. There issomething in these critiques. I have written about that Salmonic

imprint – of that longing for some distant shore where therewill be an ending and a new beginning. This can be a sereneshore of yesteryear or some placid place yet to come. In either case, it is a motivational necessity, a place of peace, a placewhere our self fits, is welcomed, and we have an intimateknowledge of just what it is to be a self-coincidental being.

It is a place of silent knowledge, a place of knowing when weare on the path to the truth of our real selves and when we areoff that path. We come to realize that there is only one true path for each and every individual, and that the essential for everyone is mastering of one’s own freedom to become what



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we have come to understand is eternally already there. In order to accomplish this free self-expression, we must be free tocoincide with that very being of our self.

The many idealists and realists, utopians and pragmatists have,for the most part, poorly understood this essential attribute of human nature, of freedom. One could even say all life’sfreedoms. They have not grasped the emergence of a self-ownership that provides a beacon for all of one’s own personal

development and the developments of all others. No one can besubjugated and be free. There have been and there are thoseconvoluted and trying moments when a few or many havecome to believe that a form of subjugation is or was in their best interests, and yet in the end they find (or have found) thatthere is an absolute necessity in the having of freedom. (Thereare those exceptions in cases when a person is a danger to self

or others or chooses to malign the peaceful coexistence of our kind by disregarding the sacred concept of ownership, includ-ing self-ownership.) We, as rational souls, must have access toour personal freedoms or we cannot fulfill our very own purpose for being. To “think” that we are free is incongruentwith our very nature. It is only in that free exercising of our very selves that we are free.

In our current age, an age defined by machines of every stripe,we have been seduced into a complacency that has shadowedour vision. We have lapsed into an artificial incomplete expres-sion of self, a self that has become accustomed to less thansufficient freedoms in order to self-define, to mature and toself-express. We must rouse ourselves from our somnambulantadolescence. We are at risk of losing our most profound attri-

bute, without which we cease to be an example of humankind,for kindness is a rational choice.

Any thought or belief to the contrary is a childish whim, onethat causes us to wish to be held in a parent’s all-encompassing



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arms, always protected1 and never exposed to circumstancesthat can challenge us into becoming all that we are. It would beour most grievous mistake.

1 This is another one of the many reasons for us to promulgate a respect for and anobligation toward maintaining families – families where those protected momentsfoster that innate sense of “okayness” that allows for one to risk that journey intoselfhood, without which one cannot be free. You may be interested in MartinHeidegger’s Being and Time. http://amzn.to/GSUCsg



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AN OBSERVATION

Urban people tend to believe that they have a certain anonym-ity in a crowd, which colors their take on secularity. As if thereis some comfort zone that can be found in a common denomi-nator that gives support to one’s personal sense of well-being.This can make them resent their commonality which mirrors a

perceived threat to their individuality. Although this can be present where there are only two people in common space, thefeeling is amplified when there are many people in commonspaces.

This can affect both language and nonverbal behavior. Thelanguage can be condensed to rapidly streamed, unsettling self-

speak on the one hand and loud, coarse, even banal invectiveson the other. The body language can be arms protectivelyfolded across chests or hands stuffed in pockets, to exaggeratedarm swinging and swaggering.

With its omnipresent brush, TV paints culture’s portrait as agrand palette that levels the behavior of us all. The mimic in usall serves us well and sets us apart from ourselves.

This does not mean that in urban settings there are not thoseenclaves of gentle circles where mutual support provides thatessential gift of well-being, enabling those creative effer-vescent sparks of enlightenment, caring, responsibility, andrespect – all exuding that complementary support to the heartof the species – to exist and even in many ways to enhance the

creative quotient of our genius; they certainly can.

However, in the homogenization of our activities, our chal-lenge will always be to maintain an eternal vigilance, one thatwhile making sweeping appraisals of the whole, touches the



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worst, the common, and the best of our kind. We must keepwatching out for one while inspiring others, and acknowledg-ing excellence where we find it so that while we plow thedepths of our potentials, we provide for growth to protect everymember of our own kind.



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A PERFECT STORM

What happens when confusion meets ignorance and the statusquo gets rocked? What does a younger generation do, one thatcame of age in the last ten years, when wants and expectationsgo unmet?

Many young people are seduced into the “Group Think” of themoment by words that reflect a thin film of palliative, common

– even trite – stuff that wouldn’t rise to the level of aphorismsor shallow truisms. They are lacking in intellectual depth and breadth. What knowledge they may have – it certainly isn’twisdom – they use to make spasmodic social or political com-mentary, if they make any comment at all, delivered with avery sanctimonious attitude, tinged with just enough irony andcynicism to capture the fleeting attention of a less than digni-

fied generation. They cast aspersions against a supposedhistory and a present as well as those currently working on the problems of the moment. Too many are unschooled andmisinformed.

Victims of any age who choose ignorance, and who through nochoice of their own find themselves with insufficient informa-tion, will inevitably encounter difficulties and find their con-

tributions wanting. They prattle and babble. Democracy cannotflourish with an uninformed populace.

“We have met the problem and it is US ” has already been said.And here the pun is intended. Many people are living out someself-fulfilling prophecy of their own making. Who wants to bewrong? Embarrassment as a tool only works for the maturing

person who is able to say, “I was wrong in what I thoughtabout this or that and I can choose to grow/change – to developa well-grounded, integrated perspective on the real, a perspec-tive enmeshed in Nature’s grandeur, her incessant willing, her pushing and pulling, her making things happen. We likewise



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must exercise our will in choosing to follow the roadmap of thevirtues. We must come to know them and to recognize theabsolute need to practice them in every aspect of our lives.

Where are the leaders? To each and every one I say, “It is our turn now!” “Politician” became an ugly word when a criticalmass decided to colonize a piece of the public turf for their own benefit – and in order to do that they had to leave integrityat the front door and enter the belly of the beast.

They had to lie, cheat, and steal from their constituents. Theyhad to compromise everything and to everyone – knowingthere couldn’t be an easy way to ameliorate the differences.Just keep tensions high, class warfare works, and build argu-ments based on separation and fear.

“Tax and spend” became the mantra of the ill informed. Whilehistory breathes in soft vales and screams from mountain tops,they play along with faux charisma adapted from the screens of the present and salted into every social encounter. Feed themonster of “I don’t want to be wrong!” and at a deeper level“Just take care of me!” Too many act as if they are coarse, brackish adolescents who don’t know much about anything – least of all respect.

Democracy demands an enlightened maturing sense of self-worth and sufficient compassion to know enough to care about personal freedom and all of the inherent manifestations of theessential need to express that freedom in thought, word, anddeed – all forming a new religion, the religion of our very own personhoods. Each one of us is to wear only our own – with the

utmost integrity of being. We must “Play one or die!” at theintellectual, physical, and spiritual level. The only way for usto live is by giving all of our really true self, our one to the One as some form of holy creative maturation.



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Generations come and generations go. Some come on the crestsof history and some come in the troughs of history. Our currentcrops of Gen-Xers and Millennials are not exceptions; they aremerely exposed to different circumstances, which presented – or obfuscated – either new information or old information. It isonly in the melding of the two that we can add girth and depthto the new edifice of our understanding and our honest participation in the process of creation.

The winds blow and weather changes – from the classic to theneoclassic, from the conservative to the neocon, from thecommunists to the progressives (anything but), we are all those precursors and succeeding stages of human development thatwe have come through and must go through. We are pieces of amoving template that forces us to divine solutions for thehuman paradox: We live knowing we will die. We can choose

to love or to hate. We must live understanding our place in themovement of history.

We cannot just float along and trust that all things will go well.Without a reasoned and dedicated acquisition of wisdom andcommitment we will lose our great nation status and become afailed state, a “has been” country, one that was blessed with anew beginning and a purpose, one that finally lost its way.

What part of “Pay attention or die!” don’t we get and whydon’t we get it?

If one generation cannot talk to another, if there is insufficientrespect and trust, we will vanish from the face of the earth.

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven

and the first earth was gone: and the sea is now no more.”

Revelation 21:1



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I AM AN I AM!

Preface

My “body of work” in the genres of Reflective Poetry and Self-Development, as well as Political and Social Commentary of-fers an expanding exposure presenting opportunities to reflect,to sense awe, and to choose a new level of responsibility that

demands growth and maturity in our personal and worldview.This growth can provide opportunities for us to “stand naked inthe wind” of our current moment, and from the precipice of “self-ownership,” embrace our participation responsibly as theco-creators and co-architects of our own lives.

Reflective poetry provides vistas that offer moments of repose

that can illicit intense commitment, birthing an integrity of being that grabs us and stirs our passions. The Finding Piecesincluded at the end of each collection of poetry are a distinctiveelement that could lead to actually discovering something thathas practical as well as essential value.

We are always presented with the necessity of a continuingdiscovery that showers us with opportunities to insert ourselves

in our own time, in our own way, by complementing all beingwith a voice and actions that say, “Yes!” to life.

With this in mind I would like to share some of my parsing of thoughts. Most of what I write is poetry – searching for andacknowledging what is eternally already here, there, and every-where. The following essay is preceded by a poem, it has

another near the end, and a third poem serves as an end initself. This may provide an opportunity to see more clearly theattempt to paint pictures of the whole. And so it is:

I AM AN I AM!



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IGNORANCE

We are tumbled on a new shore.In exhaustion, we crawl as children.

In exuberance, we prance as adolescents.Raping the sensitivities of our elders,

we wreck havoc on our gifts.We inherited a Dedicated Ignorance

1

and a predilection for bad manners.Our only portal providing any hope

is the gaining of sufficient experienceto present that supreme gift

of an informed choice,a choice in which we exercise

a freedom complementing

what is eternally already here.Only then can we hope to pay homageto our history, ourselves, and the Giver.2

It is not a lack of something, without which we cannot bewhole; it is a potential that each one of us has within ourselves,a hidden treasure that we must discover and nurture, a gift fromthe infinite to be shared with the eternal.

We are talking here of something essential, something person-al, something unique that represents the lasting creative forcesof the process of life. We are not pointing towards some other that we are longing to become, something “other than” withoutwhich we feel incomplete, stolen from, put upon, victimized by, because we don’t posses it – whatever it is; an orientation

of being that others are gifted with, an object of our resent-ment, a fear, a fault that someone else is blessed to have or nothave; that somehow, an “I,” a me, a you, are less than.

1 “Dedicated Ignorance” will be in Pebbles.2 “Ignorance” will be forthcoming in Pebbles on the Shore: A Collection of Poems.



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We are what we are, an “I am!” that stands as a willing expres-sion of an essential piece of the Grand Mosaic, an integral partof the Grand Design, a self-possessing attribute of being that isuniquely ours and that we are responsible for at whatever levelof self-ownership and creativity we can muster. We are onlyand always just responsible to the extent of our “I am!”

IMAGE AND LIKENESS

I am an I am!Pulled into being by my real selfish-self,

Exuding an integrity of being,saying “Yes!” to all I am,

becoming all that I can be,all that I must be,

all that I am;a gift of the Giver,giving my me to my loving self,

to all others and to my God.I am an I am!1

We cannot lament. We cannot cry out to the fullness of another and rage after that which we perceive as an essential that has

been taken from us and must be given back. We cannotsquander our time cursing the fates of history or the present.We are not entitled to someone else’s body, land, or treasures.We are that singular manifestation of a Sacred Rock. We arethat seeking after what is eternally already there within our-selves.2 We are those “sequined selves,”3 sharing life and lightwith ourselves, for and to ourselves, as witnesses for and to

others, in the presence of the Divine.

1 “Image and Likeness” will be in Pebbles.2 See Being and Time by Martin Heidegger. http://amzn.to/GSUCsg 3 See The Phenomenon of Man, by Teilhard de Chardin. http://amzn.to/jyvTjO



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To waste our precious time-being in wild gesticulations, rant-ing and destroying things and others, is a foolish use of energyand effort. We are an opening, an offering of a sacrificial lambto the other Sacrificial Lamb in a Holy Pageant of the loving power of a Divinity.

We are, in our own way, the truth and the light, we are the beacons sharing our faith, our hope, and our love with each andevery one of our fellow creatures of creation. We are theco-

creators wrapped into the landscape of the infinite. Our onlytask is to plough self’s fertile soil so that we can enjoy the giftof self as we share our presence with others and our God.

The Rauch is up!It is battering the tailings of my cloak.

It is pushing me towards myself.

I must utter my “thank you.”I must live praising the sacred All.1

The vast conundrum and tragedy of the species today is thatmost individuals do not know what the gifts and the problemsof existence are, much less what to do about them.

The “vivid screams” of the past and present are one of the

greatest challenges the species must contend with. To maintainan appropriate relationship with our environment and our-selves, we are going to have to remember and focus on the ab-solute need to be a self – and all that is entailed in maintaininga fidelity to what is eternally already there – in me – throughme – and by me – as a volitional creature. When that volitionalcomponent of our being is lost; where am I? Where are you?

To survive as an entity who exercises a will, we will have to beacutely aware of the choices that we make and how those

1 Rauch is Hebrew, meaning spirit or wind.



choices complement what is who and what we really are – asopposed to “thinking we know” who and what we really are.

We are a “can do” that learns and remembers in the doing of the act of co-creating a self in the image and likeness of a giftof participation in being. We must forever avoid the seductive – “there being” – and become that admixture of a “here being.”

EMBRACING

With our Dedicated Ignorance we came to an age.Ensconced in pseudo-bucolic

sensitivities of mid-century frivolity,unaware of the implosive dawning of a new world,

we languished in a prolonged adolescence. Numbers and technics mounted an old horse

garnished with the apocalyptic foreshadowingof a devolution of ourselves.Therein blossomed the idiocies of the arch-liberaland the intransigencies of the staid-conservative.

These offer nothing to enable a growing understandingof personal and communal opportunities

or an exercising of responsibilitiesin the sharing of our presence.

Embrace, we must,

sign posts vol. iv

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